Bedtime gets later as we go online instead of going to sleep

We’re staying up increasingly later to spend time online (Picture: Getty)

If you’re bleary-eyed reading this there could be a good explanation… you’ve been tuning in instead of turning in.

Just under half of us spend up to 90 minutes on laptops, tablets and smartphones in bed, catching up on TV or logging on to Facebook or Twitter.

The lights now go out at midnight, compared to 10.30pm ten years ago, research shows.

But because we’re using our gadgets, 15 per cent of us are having less sex.

‘With so much entertainment available and so many devices with which to enjoy it, people are using every minute of their free time to get online,’ said Dominic Baliszewski, of comparison website broadbandchoices.

Because people are using their gadgets in the bedroom more, 15 per cent are having less sex

The favourite online nocturnal activity for 25 per cent of the population is browsing the web, while 15 per cent choose to catch up on their favourite shows with on-demand TV services.

Ten per cent chat to friends and family on social networks before turning out the light – and that rises to 67 per cent among the under-30s.

People in their 20s are most likely to use a smartphone at bedtime, with 25 per cent browsing the net on their handheld device.

But for older people, more traditional pre-slumber pastimes are still in favour. Nearly half of over-60s preferred settling down with a good old-fashioned paper book before going to sleep.